We do not suppose that the fire which broke out
in the Vatican last Sunday, and for three hours threatened the price- less library, will prove an historic event, but the accounts of it reveal a new tone as prevalent in the Vatican. The Pope himself superintended the arrangements for extinguishing the fire, himself sanctioned an application for aid to the municipal fire brigade, and himself permitted the entrance of Signor Ronchetti, Under-Secretary for the Home Office, who entered the Vatican to make sure that the assistance of the national Government was not required. The Pope, of course, resigns none of his pretensions, but there was a manliness in his conduct as of a man who is something besides a priest, and a friendliness towards men whom in theory he must regard as rebels which Leo XIII. and Cardinal Ra,mpolla would have regarded with disfavour.
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